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Rubio on Obama's Fiscal Cliff Plan: "It doesn't solve anything"

The fiscal cliff is looming, and as FreedomWorks' President Matt Kibbe pointed out, “The $16 trillion monstrosity that is our current national debt is a product of spending too much, not taxing too little.” We need a plan that includes sequestration as well as reforms to taxation and entitlements. Senator Marco Rubio took to the airwaves last night to discuss just this.

In his interview with Sean Hannity, Rubio said “If you raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans or what he calls the wealthiest Americans, people making $250,000 or more, if you raise that by 100 percent, that doesn't solve anything. The proposal the president is standing for, it doesn't solve anything.”

He went on to explain that increased taxation would only lead to employees seeing cuts to their benefits and compensation, or even their jobs. It would lead to people taking fewer vacations and going out to eat less. It would lead to fewer home improvement projects which hire construction workers. In short, it is not the wealthiest who would suffer the most from this higher rate of taxation. “And in return, you generate six, seven, eight days worth of government spending.” noted Rubio. Clearly, that is not the answer.

“The only solution,” Rubio pointed out “is the combination of fiscal discipline and real economic growth.” As Kibbe said, “The deal-makers on Capitol Hill have ‘negotiated’ themselves up to $16 trillion in debt. It’s time to say ‘enough is enough." They are right. Higher taxes do not avoid financial ruin in any meaningful way. This level of spending is literally out of control, and has to be brought back to a reasonable level to get us out of our current mess.

Amelia good message. But it comes down to HOW do we sell this message to the low information voters and spineless (as Mark Levin says) Repubicans at the top? I am just a lowly worker and I get it SO how do we get the message to the rest of the mentally numb. We must keep this front and center but must reach those that drink the socialist kool-aid. The question is how?

The Senate is set to vote on the fiscally irresponsible budget negotiated by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) soon. FreedomWorks has issued a key vote notice declaring that we will deduct the scores of any member of Congress who votes for it on our congressional scorecard. As you may imagine, this news hasn’t thrilled the Washington establishment.

This week, I decided to research the Farm Bill to write a little bit about some of the “reforms” House Republicans who support the bill are so proud of. The CBO estimates savings of $35 billion over the next ten years (vs. the current baseline). The CBO is also notorious for underestimating costs, and it looks like this time won’t be any different.

When Washington raised the debt ceiling this week, the Beltway media breathlessly reported that the fiscal crisis had ended. Lawyers danced in hallways, bureaucrats twerked on the Metro, congressional aides kissed strangers in the streets — the Tea Party has been defeated! It was like VJ day for wonks.

I attend Hillsdale College in southern Michigan. It’s a pleasant place, the people are friendly, the landscape of the college is beautiful, and the academic rigor is intellectually stimulating. Some of the things that I’ve learned since becoming a temporary Michigander are that the weather is utterly and truly unpredictable, that Ohio State fans are worst people on earth (their words, not mine), and that native Michiganders insist that “soda” is something you bake with and “pop” is the thing you drink. (They’re wrong.)

The Obamacare individual mandate will disproportionately affect those who can least afford it. Rather than simply allow people to buy health insurance if they wish to do so, the "Affordable Care Act" imposes a fine if you don't. But for many people without means, the insurance, even with subsidies, will be too expensive. The law amounts to a tax on being poor -- a Poor Tax.

There are a lot of myths about the looming government shutdown. The biggest one is that it is, in fact, a government shutdown. The country will not descend into anarchy, there will not be chaos in the streets (well, no more than usual) and, really, we don’t need to panic if it happens. Here’s the deal.

With President Obama's umpteenth (twentieth, if you're counting) pivot back to jobs and the economy, there has been a lot of trotting out of the concept that meaninful economic recovery must begin with the "middle class". Politicians, economists, and pundits alike have all revived the meme, but almost none are directly addressing that fact the "middle class" has reached the mythical status of unicorns or free health care for all.

A new poll by Reason shows that the American public is fed up with the spending spree in Washington and does not want the debt-ceiling increased. Seventy-six percent of the American public believe that the government is spending too much money. Washington as a whole, and liberals in particular will surely ignore these facts during the looming budget battles.